Tenderbreak Permaculture Farm, is located in Dixons Creek (65km NE of Melbourne,Australia). Andrew & Heather have almost completed their mud brick home, and are establishing 3 acres of food production gardens. They also run Permaculture in Action tours on the property. The aim of this blog is to tell their story, with particular emphasis on how permaculture principles have assisted them in this project.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

A Challenging Summer: Planting an “Insurance Garden”

Every year is different in the
garden. Some things do well and others don’t. Amongst the mix, there are usually
a few disasters and a couple of successes. This is one reason why it is so
important to diversify. If one or two crops fail, you can focus your efforts on
the other crops and still get by.

Disasters first

The pears looked great at the start of summer

This year was our driest summer since
we have been keeping records (19 years). December rainfall was low and then the
rains virtually dried up until the last day of summer, when we got some
relief. It was also our warmest summer ever, so evaporation rates have been
high too. The heat did not stop with summer, as Melbourne is likely to have its
hottest March on record too. This hot, dry weather was very disappointing
because at the beginning of December everything pointed towards a bumper season
and harvest (See We have gone Crazy this Year!). Most of the apple trees
were loaded with huge crops. It looked like we would be getting our best crops
of avocadoes, macadamias, pears, nectarines, nashis and so on.

And so did the nashis

But then the big dry set in. We tried
keeping up with the watering but as each week became drier and drier it became
harder. By early February we had to let some plants go and survive the best
they could. We didn’t have the time, were exhausted with the total workload (and
heat) and had to maintain good quantities of water in reserve in case we had to
deal with fire. Some areas of Victoria have had terrible fires again this year
and they took weeks to get under control, so that possibility was always on our
mind.

Our beautiful apple crop started
dropping off the trees well before they were ripe, and our lovely crop of
nectarines and plums started to burn and shrivel on the tree and other crops
suffered too.

Five Crown is one of our most productive trees

Although all the apples trees did
suffer, some managed better than others. The five crown dropped a large amount
of fruit but kept perhaps 50% (about 20kg). The Opalescent once again produced
a crop of large juicy red fruit and being on a dwarf rootstock we were able to
cover it with bird netting. The Orange Cox’s Pippen produced its best crop yet.
The fruit is not very big, but their flavour is delicious with a distinctive
taste- almost a lemony touch.

Our total apple crop would have
amounted to several boxes of fruit, which was more than enough for our needs.
There was plenty to eat fresh, stew and the hot dry conditions were perfect for
drying. Our pantry has a good store of dried apples for use after the season
finishes.

The clothes horse made a good drying frame

There was plenty of other good news too.

Most of our berry crops such as
blackberry, blueberry and currents withered on the plants. However the
raspberries came in, just before the hot spell with its withering, dry northerly
winds, so we were able to turn our harvest into enough raspberry jam to last
the year.

We planted 5 varieties of pumpkins and
although 3 patches struggled to survive, we focussed on the two strongest ones.
We kept the water up on these patches and they have produced a reasonable crop
– enough to last us through to next summer. What we lack in variety we’ll make
up for in quantity.

Our carrots, parsnips and beetroot are
just springing out of the ground and we will have our best crops yet. Our two
small successive crops of corn have kept us supplied with corn for six weeks
now and there are quite a few cobs still left. Cucumbers grew almost faster
than we could pick them. The self sown parsley has produced around one hundred
good sized bunches (which we sell at our organic market) and is still going
strong.

Our bean tepee was very productive

We have been feeding off our climbing
beans for over eight weeks now. We planted 3 small crops about 3 weeks apart.
We are just starting to pick the third crop and have already harvested about 20
kg. The first crop which was planted around a tepee frame is still flowering so
we should be getting many more.

Nothing beats summer strawberries

Our biggest thrill though was our
strawberry bed. Although only a fairly small bed we have had 3 or 4 feeds of strawberries
every week for over around 2 months. They have been so flavoursome and
delicious.

We planted 6 tomato varieties and
over 50 plants. We lost a few and some did not come to much, but most produced
huge crops. The two best performers were Tommy Toe (our favourite for salads)
and Principe Borghese(a first timer
for us). Altogether we have had plenty to eat in salads, soups and other meals,
as well as enough to bottle for sauces and soups during the year.

Prince Borghese tomatoes were a big success

Having diversity in the garden is
great for variety, but it is also like an insurance policy. If extreme weather
events are going to be more frequent, planting an “insurance garden” is a
pretty good idea!

Oh I feel your pain, we had a garden two years ago that really took off, than there was no rain for weeks. While we were watering some insects lacking in water from their surroundings decided our garden was a good spot for a feast. Needless to say all was lost, but not just for us others also.